Change Helping Against Distress

The German Child Protection League (Deutscher Kinderschutzbund) offers a parent hotline for advice regarding care for children.

Parents and those taking care of children sometimes feel unable to cope with the everyday pressures in their families, worry about their children or are simply overburdened. The German Child Protection League’s parent hotline, "Nummer gegen Kummer" (The number to dial when in distress), offers its clientele easily accessible and free assistance and counseling without time constraints.

Change virtually stages a non-available vehicle of choice as if by magic!

What do you do if the vehicle you want to present is not available for the Corporate Convention of Europe’s largest automotive distributor?

Well, that’s precisely the challenge the teams of Change Communication and its sister company, KFP Five Star Conference Service, faced during the run-up to this year’s Porsche Holding’s Konzerntag titled “Future.Mobility.Solutions”. The reason being that the Geneva Motor Show – taking place simultaneously – made a real presentation of the new VW I.D. Buzz prototype impossible.

But it had to be exactly this innovative electric vehicle – the successor to the legendary Volkswagen “Bulli”. So, alternatives to a real presentation had to be found. Especially, because Change’s credo “Change your perspective and innovate” is not without reason. Consequently, Change’s professional minds for communication together with KFP’s event specialists thought up a unique solution: “Why don’t we have the bus drive into the hall virtually?”

To realize this creative idea, KFP and Change deployed state-of-the-art technology. This included, for example, a 15 × 5 meter LED wall, which showed real-time images combined with pre-produced virtual content during the live artistic performance. Reality and simulation merged when the animated I.D. Buzz interacted with the Dundu puppets operated by professional puppeteers, to create a real “wow” effect in the audience.

Executives attending the Konzerntag expressed their enthusiasm likewise:“Throughout the preparatory phase we experienced an atmosphere of genuine partnership and, at the end of the day, we succeeded to accomplish a great event”, said Leo Fellinger, Chief Creative Officer of the Corporation, praising the good cooperation with Change and KFP. “Our executives were as enthusiastic as our Management Board and members of the Supervisory Board.”

The perfect day at the Salzburg Exhibition and Congress Center was additionally enhanced by numerous other full-service solutions provided by the KFP Group: Content development, production and beautification of more than twenty presentations, a live artistic performance in combination with a virtual vehicle, a gala dinner for the 1,100 executives as well as a journey through Porsche Holding’s business fields – all were in good hands with the communication and event experts in charge.

The Aftercare Team Rückenwind gives you wings on the way home.

Rückenwind accompanies babies, who have a difficult start in life, and their parents on their way home. With this support, many prematurely born or chronically ill children can leave the clinic earlier.

The sociomedical aftercare provided by Rückenwind bestows parents with a feeling of safety and competence: Following the stay in the clinic, experienced specialists such as children's nurses or pediatricians, continue to care for the affected families – namely at home, in their familiar environment.

With an interdisciplinary creative team of designers, illustrators, photographers and copywriters, we developed a corporate magazine for the Klassik Garage Kronberg on the occasion of the eponymous annual vintage car rally. Thematically suitable comes the magazine under the title garage feeling. Compacted on 60 pages and limited to 1,000 copies.

The design concept reflects the variety of classic car designs: black and dull like a mustang. In A3 oversize like a Samba bus. Puristic at times like a 911. Playful like an Alfa Spider. With celebrity faces, piercing questions and quick answers. Each side painted differently. Vroom vroom.

The work will be rewarded with gold in the category "Customer Magazines B2C" at the International Creative Media Award 2017!

The jury said: The design changes with each chapter, but it's always a premium style. The equipment is unmistakable.

Mercedes-Benz BUSiness Days

Frankfurt, November 14, 2017. Change Communication stages relaunch of the Mercedes-Benz Omnibus Days in cooperation with the set specialist Artlife.

On November 11 and 12, Mercedes-Benz celebrated its premiere of the new edition of the traditional Omnibus Days (MOT) at the bus delivery center in Mannheim, attracting numerous guests from all over Europe. In the past few years the event has become a popular meeting point for people from the industry, who also enjoy visiting the event with their families.

After completing the refurnishing of the public areas on the factory premises in 2016, Mercedes-Benz also wanted to revive the event’s format and integrate the formerly separately held symposium for representatives from the public transportation sector in the best possible way. “More brand, more product, more services”, is what our objective was, says Angela Frank, Manager Integration Management, Fairs, Events, Marketing Planning at Daimler Buses. "The setup had to work for a dual purpose, that is, for two very different target groups and event formats."

"The challenge was posed by the heterogeneity of the target groups and the complexity of the communication objectives. We wanted to stage the Mercedes-Benz products and services in such a way that the experience would be just as exciting for local bus entrepreneurs with their families as for representatives from international expert associations. To achieve this, we created a wide scope of opportunities to approach and experience the various focal points of our communication strategy. The differentiated experience addresses cognitive and emotional dimensions, providing different touchpoints for identification," says Almuth Siemann, Managing Director of Change Communication GmbH.

This in mind, the Frankfurt-based creative forge transformed the traditional MOT into a new format, the Mercedes-Benz Business Days. With its motto Experience today – Discover tomorrow, visitors were invited to experience an emotional customer journey in a venue covering 2,600 m2. The event featured the Citaro hybrid, Tourismo, Future Bus with City Pilot and the Sprinter City 45, flanked by booths offering various specialty services for these vehicles. For the first time, too, OMNIPlus On presented itself as the new brand for all digital service activities.

The physical environment for this new experience format was built by Artlife (Hofheim), who integrated the Business Days into the Mercedes-Benz plant at Mannheim. Furthermore, with the new Mercedes-Benz Customer FORUM, we also created a new format for international customers from the public transport sector, which was held on the day prior to the event.

The management of Daimler Buses was fully satisfied with the outcome of the event. "We wanted to have a future-oriented, content-based creative concept. It was important to us to offer all visitors a comprehensive and emotional omnibus experience in an authentic Mercedes-Benz brand world without the bustle of a trade fair. The new format achieved this quite effectively. The partnership with Change Communication and Artlife contributed significantly in achieving our goals", says Harry Gottschalk, Head of Marketing Communication at Daimler Buses.

A Dance of Giants

FRANKFURT, July 17, 2017. On behalf of Mercedes-Benz, Frankfurt-based agency, Change Communication, staged a double world premiere: from June 19-23, 2017 international press representatives and around 2,500 selected guests from 29 countries came to the EXPO in Brussels to attend the international launch of the new TOURISMO, as well as the first dynamic indoor bus-presentation in the world.

After nearly 20 years, Daimler Buses re-launched its bestselling Mercedes-Benz high-decker touring coach TOURISMO. The introduction of the next generation of the most successful European coach attracted great attention in the bus industry. Accordingly, interest in the market and expectations towards the premiere event were high. "We wanted to offer our guests a truly memorable WOW-experience and exceed the expectations tied to the brand “Mercedes-Benz” and this very special product. Thus, our objective was to create a completely new dimension in product staging within an authentic brand environment", says Almuth Siemann, Managing Director of Change Communication GmbH.

Together with KFP Five Star Conference Service – specialist in MICE services – and epicto GmbH, Change created, designed and implemented an unprecedented unique product presentation: Three buses showed a dynamic live performance in front of the audiences in the venerable Hall 5 of Brussels' EXPO area, merging virtuality and reality into an almost life-like live image. The audience witnessed the vehicles "live" in their "natural" environments, i.e. in the city, through a scenic countryside and on a virtual highway.

The concept was realized using high-end technology: a 40 x 8 m mobile LED wall, combined with a floor projection of 1,200 sqm and 28 high-performance projectors, continued to create realistic traffic situations in which the 12-14 meter long vehicles – weighing up to 24 tons – demonstrated their capabilities. This "Dance of the Giants" required maximum concentration and accurate maneuvers by the three drivers, who executed the choreography precisely to the centimeter – placing the buses perfectly into the digital projections.

"Change has presented a courageous and innovative creative concept that not only fits to the Mercedes-Benz brand as well as presents the topic of touring coaches, but also reflects the highest demands addressed towards the team and technology. The realization of such projects requires mutual trust and perfectly implemented processes", says Harry Gottschalk, Head of Marketing Communications Daimler Buses.

"The TOURISMO world premiere was a huge success. Such an excellent cooperation only works if one can rely on one another", adds Angela Frank, Project Manager for the event and responsible for Integration Management, Trade Fairs, Events and Marketing Planning at Daimler Buses.